The first leg of the journey – from Narkanda to Baga Sarahan – is a relatively easy one. But barely a couple of hours into the journey, we have our first vehicle breakdown. The green Gypsy begins to lose power unexpectedly. and the convoy is forced to make an unscheduled halt. Fortunately, the organisers had anticipated such breakdowns and the support vehicle in our convoy has a mechanic on board. Within the first few hours of the journey, the convoy order is disrupted and 7 of the 10 vehicles proceed towards the lunch halt. Jatin and I stay on standby and wait with the couple from Bangalore who are driving in the Gypsy, while the mechanic investigates the problem. After some investigation, the mechanic concludes that the Gypsy will need to be taken to a workshop and may take several hours to repair, so the couple is forced to take the backseat in our vehicle and with a tinge of disappointment and anxiety we roll on.
Utkarsh and Pragya are a newly married couple. I ask them how they met, and I am surprised to discover that they met on social media. This is the first time I have met a real-life couple who have found each other on social media. It is the love of travel that brought them together. It’s a fascinating story but until I met them it always sounded more like folklore to me. I wonder if I have been doing social media wrong all along.
After a few hours of cruising on the NH5 highway and a rather long, leisurely lunch break at a local dhaba, we take a diversion towards Nimrand. As we get off the highway, the road narrows substantially and speeding Maruti Altos and Bolero pickups keep us on our toes. With the sun setting fast, we begin our ascent from Nimrand towards Baga Sarahan. The speeding traffic thins out as we climb and after a while the route almost feels like a private road.
Turn after turn throws up spectacular views of the mountains and valleys. The edges of the mountain slopes converge and diverge in myriad ways, and an infinite range of rock and vegetation patterns keep me occupied. The long winding road is fascinating and scenic, but also relentless.
Even as the outside temperature drops sharply, as we climb, our Gypsy, which has been driving in largely the first gear for more or less 20 kms, begins to overheat. Just a few kms shy of our destination, we are forced to make a second unscheduled halt to allow the engine of our car to cool down. It is day one, one Gypsy is already out of service and the second one is struggling to make it to the first destination. I cannot help but wonder how many vehicles will make it to the end of the expedition?
